Royal Oak study: Limit bars, develop office, retail in downtown

FILE -- The Downtown Task Force, composed of elected officials, business leaders and property owners, recommends the city should try to develop 180,000 square feet of new office space in and near the downtown over the next several years. JOE BALLOR-DAILY TRIBUNE

The Royal Oak City Commission on Monday accepted a report by the Downtown Task Force, which spent a year looking at downtown related issues before making recommendations to improve the business district and nearby commercial areas.

The task force set a goal of adding 180,000 square feet of office space on city or privately owned land by 2020. The city should also create a showcase of “distinct, eclectic (and) innovative” retailers in the business district, according to the task force report.

Advertisement

A key recommendation is that the city should hire a consultant to do an extensive retail market study to determine which type of retailers the city should seek to attract.

City Manager Don Johnson said the city will soon seek bids for a retail market study and predicted Royal Oak will follow through on the task force recommendations.

“I expect we’ll do everything in the report,” he said.

The task force included Mayor Jim Ellison, two other city commissioners, the head of the Downtown Development Authority, business leaders and representatives of retail and restaurant businesses.

The balance in the mix of businesses in Royal Oak has been a subject of intermittent contention for at least two decades. Many retailers in Royal Oak historically have felt the city favored bars and restaurants over smaller businesses.

The task force reported that when the city changed an ordinance a couple of years ago to uncap the number of liquor licenses it would issue, the move “negatively impacted opportunities for retailers to locate in Royal Oak.”

Royal Oak should also hire a consultant to prepare a development for a central park in the downtown, possibly near City Hall and the library, the task force reported.

The call for a retail strategy to identify niche or “targeted” retailers for Royal Oak should include incentives and a retail development strategy, according to the report.

Successful retailers in Royal Oak now sell consumable products like coffee, pastry and other goods, as opposed to clothes and things shoppers can get online, Ellison said.

“We’d like a study … to help us define what type of businesses we want to attract,” he said, adding that the task force report can serve as a road map for the city’s newly hired economic developer.

Ellison said the city has to determine how to capitalize on the large number of patrons who visit the city for dining and entertainment to help support retailers and other businesses.

City Commissioner Peggy Goodwin said the task force report is a good foundation for city officials to work from.

“I like the idea of looking at our liquor ordinance and (possibly) amending it,” she said.

Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce President Mark Schneider urged the city to adopt the task force recommendations and said the vision of developing more new office space is a good idea.